Crash Pilots Detained!

Information reaching Daily Guide indicates that the four Nigerian crew members on board the Boeing 727-200 operated by Nigerian Cargo Airline, Allied Air, which ran over a 207 Benz bus, killing 10 persons instantly last Saturday evening, have been detained. The men whose names were not immediately available to Daily Guide were said to have been discharged by doctors of Aviation Clinic the following day after being traumatized as a result of the accident. Information gathered by the paper indicated that after the crew was discharged from the hospital, they were taken to the scene by some Ghanaian security operatives on Sunday afternoon after President Atta Mills had visited them in the morning. It was however not clear if they were in the custody of the National Security or the BNI. One of the pilots of the ill-fated cargo plane explained that the heavy rains on that fateful day could be blamed for the tragedy. He told Multi TV at the Airport Clinic, where they were receiving treatment that they did their possible best to avert the tragedy, which could also be linked to poor visibility, but the situation went beyond their control. He said they complied with all aviation procedures regarding landing. �We landed alright, but the air plane just would not stop. We tried everything possible to keep it on the runway and it just kept going and we went out of the runway and the rest is history.� The pilot expressed his condolences to families of those who lost their lives, adding they got to know of the fatalities at the hospital. �We thank God. I want to take this opportunity to express our condolences to the families of those who lost their lives. We were not even aware of that until we got here. We are really very sorry about that,� he said. The whereabouts of the black box which might contain the last communication before the crash had not been disclosed. The black box would help the investigation team to unravel the details about the crash. Meanwhile, the 10 persons on board the 207 Benz bus with registration number GR 5471 Z who lost their lives have been named. The victims, according to eyewitnesses, were mutilated beyond recognition, but the police managed to locate their families. They were Evans Abanyel Tabenyeng, 34, Mawuli Lavor, 22, James Yao Norgbolo, 26, Gideon Ansah Kumi, 19, an old student of Harvard Senior High School at Kokomlemle, Accra, Kwame Boadu, 24, driver�s mate and Kennedy Hlordzi, 18. The rest were Lance Corporal Castro Abuchow, 26, of 48 Engineers Regiment, Teshie Camp, George Osei, 33, driver of 207 Benz bus, Ishmael Dawutey and Esther Agbenu, 35. Driver of the Daewoo Juliet car with registration number GR 4642-11, Adjetey Sowah, 32, who also suffered injuries, was still receiving treatment at the Aviation Clinic, Airport. The bodies, according to police reports, had been deposited at the 37 Military hospital mortuary for preservation while investigations continue. It would be recalled that 10 persons lost their lives after a Boeing 727-200 operated by Nigerian cargo airline, Allied Air, overshot the runway of the Kotoka International Airport, running into the streets and smashing a 207 Benz Bus, killing all passengers aboard the bus. The crew on the aircraft, however, survived the crash. The airplane overshot the runway, broke into the wall that fences the airport and skidded onto the main road that links the 37 station to La and its adjoining suburbs. The driver of the taxi cab survived the accident and is still receiving treatment. The accident attracted widespread sympathies, with the President and his vice, Prof John Mills and John Mahama, respectively, paying visits to the scene of the accident and expressing their sympathies to the families of the deceased.